Getting geared up for summer!

It’s the beginning of June already and the way our weather’s been lately, it feels like summer’s coming in with a bang.  I enjoyed myself this weekend, taking a break from the computer and spending most of Saturday and Sunday working outside in my gardens to finish with the last plantings, lots of weeding, rose feedings, overdue watering and garden decorating.  It’s the time of year I really look forward to…when the gardens and lawn look inviting and we can finally move all our lawn furniture outside. 

I took a break from the computer, not only to get the necessary work done in my gardens, but also because I’m finally editing the third book in my mystery series (yeah!) and I felt I needed to take a break before I begin to review the manuscript.  I’m further behind with this draft than I planned to be but because November didn’t pan out completely as far as writing the series goes and December was mainly focused on 1313 Psyco Path, I wasn’t able to really get into the third book until January.  Even so, considering the first and second books each took four months to write, I guess I’m doing okay.

June will keep me busy as I edit my book and work on necessary revisions before I can make it available for the next phase of edits with a professional editor.  Now that my gardens are looking and smelling so nice (the herbs…they are wonderful for the senses) and my patio table and umbrella offer an inviting retreat nearby, my hope is that the weather stays fairly nice most of the month so I can edit my book outside when I’m home.  The trick for me is knowing when to read and when to weed and when I’ve done enough of one before I get back to the other. 

I don’t really plan on participating in too many book events this summer but I am scheduled to take part in another book event this month.  It’s a meet and greet book signing event scheduled for next week at a local senior center and I’m really looking forward to it.  I’ve also decided to sign up for Camp NaNoWriMo in July so that I can begin working on my next project.  It’s like what I took part in for NaNoWriMo in November 2012 and 2013 but on a less rigorous scale.  You can write as few as 10,000 words or as many as 999,999.  My word count goal is at least 25,000 so that I can work on another short story I’d like to have published by this November.  I’m really looking forward to beginning a new project.

So, let me think about this more clearly…I’m taking part in only two events that I know of this summer but just those two events will monopolize 32 days of the summer? 

Well, that’s okay.  I’m ready for anything right now.  I’m ready to dig deep into editing.  I’m ready for a fun event with the senior citizens.  I’m ready for a month of participating with other writers in a virtual creative retreat where the community spirit and encouragement will keep me excited about my next project.   

     

And I’m ready for summer. 

How about you?